The darkest hour
by Evilkat23
Summary: So, this is what I believe would happen if Nettlebrand didn't melt at the end of the book. WARNING: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH
1. Dark hour

"Here he comes!"

Ben held his breath as he looked down at the homunculus sitting in his lap.

"You sure you don't want to sit this out in my bag?" Ben asked nervously, his friend shook his head vigorously from side to side.

"No young master, I want to see him melt." The manikin breathed out softly to Ben.

Sorrel gasped out when Nettlebrand showed himself, Ben almost gasped as well, he was huge! Bigger than huge! It was like ten Firedrakes in one. The silver dragon growled a bit and slowly rose in the air, Maia following in suit. Nettlebrand let out a mighty roar so loud that it made Ben, Sorrel, and Burr Burr Chan cover their ears.

"Ohhh angel death caps..." Sorrel breathed out once she let go of her ears.

Nettlebrand let out a loud haughty laugh when he saw the two dragons circling above his head.

"Yes! A bunch of appetizers before my main meal! And look! The traitorous manikin as well! YES! I will enjoy eating you the most!" The faux golden dragon roared out to Twigleg sitting with Ben.

"Not while I'm alive you won't!" Firedrake roared back, then, without wasting anymore time, he flew down and breathed his fire down upon their enemy. The blue flames licked upon Nettlebrands golden armor and just seemed to roll down and cause no harm to the giant beast. Maia let out her own flames, like before, the flames didn't seem to do much to the large dragon and Nettlebrand laughed once again.

"You think your flames have any effect on me?! I was build to resist your petty flames!"

Twigleg's eyes widen as he watched in horror the realization that his old master was not melting.

"He's not melting! WHY ISN'T HE MELTING!" Sorrel cried out, however, before anyone could answer the brownie, Nettlebrand lunged up going for Firedrakes tail.

Before his large mouth could clamp down the silver dragon's tail, Maia dive bombed Nettlebrand, using all of her body's strength as she smashed right into the side of the foe's large jugular. Just as quickly as she smashed into him, he turned and grabbed her by the neck with his powerful mouth and in one large bite, he devoured her.

"MAIA!" Firedrake roared out in pure horror as the she-dragon was eaten alive, rage now fueling the silver dragon, he blew fire upon Nettlebrand once more, like before, the blue flames only licked off of the shiny golden armor and didn't even so much as darken the color.

Ben found himself shaking in both fear and anger, why wasn't it working? Was the brownie spit too thin for the armor to melt? To watered down...Or...

Looking at Nettlebrand's armor, Ben noticed that it looked just as shiny as ever, no evidence that there was any brownie spit anywhere on the golden armor. Gravelbeard never cleaned Nettlebrands armor, it's either that or...the dwarf never got the chance to. Ben had a hunch that Gravelbeard is sitting in the golden beasts stomach with Maia now.

Firedrake flapped his wings as hard as he could down towards Nettlebrand, causing dust and stones to fly up into the dragon's face.

"Firedrake! We have to leave the-" Sorrel started to speak, but, was stopped when Nettlebrand's giant paw came down upon them, swiping them out of the air like flies.

Everything that happened next happened fast, Ben felt him and Twigleg go flying off to the side of Firedrake's back, the rope holding him down snapping in the process. Wanting Twigleg to be safe, the boy held the manikin close to his chest as they fell to the ground below. Ben felt the pain of his shoulder meeting with the hard stone ground. Before he briefly blacked out from the pain, he swore he felt his shoulder blade fracture, the feeling of the bone just splitting up into the multiple parts as the pain of fire erupted in his shoulder.

He came to no more than mere minutes later, Twigleg shaking him awake, whispering to him frantically.

"Young master, hurry, we must hurry!" Twigleg grabbed onto Ben's hand and tugged at it, wanting the boy to his feet quickly. His mind hazy with pain and confusion, Ben didn't move at first, he just stared at Twigleg. He became aware of a sound, a rather unpleasant sound of someone chewing loudly, wanting to see the cause of the sound, he started to turn his head towards it, but Twigleg came into his view and started to turn his head away from the sound.

"No. No...Don't look...Get up...Before he sees you. Please young master."

Twigleg frantically pulled at Ben's good hand, that seemed to do the tick as slowly, Ben got up to his feet, getting the hint that he needed to get out of there. However, as he tried to step, he staggered to the side and fell back down on his bad shoulder, making him cry out in pain.

"Shhh! Shhh!" Twigleg whispered to Ben as quietly as he could, also trying his best to sooth Ben, The pain was getting to be too much for Ben, he thought he was going to pass out again. However, it was the sound of something big and heavy coming their way, the sound of feet thumping against the floor. Turning his head, Ben saw Nettlebrand, the giant golden dragon making his way towards them, blood splattered against his muzzle, obviously ready to make his next kill.

Accept his fate, Ben laid his head down in defeat.

Upon hearing the sigh leave Ben's mouth, Twigleg felt tears collect in the corner of his eyes, everything looked so bleak, but, he wasn't going to allow the monster that is Nettlebrand hurt the young master.

"NO! STOP RIGHT THERE!" Twigleg bellowed out to Nettlebrand when he came close enough to the two of them. Much to the manikin's surprise, the golden dragon did just that, he stopped. Taking a deep breath, Twigleg felt the tears start to pour freely from his face as he spoke to his old master.

"I've watched you eat up my creator, my eleven brothers, and now, I watched you eat up my friends...But, I cannot watch you eat Ben! Please! Please hear me out when I plea with you here...Spare him, I'll go back to cleaning your armor for thousands of years if you'd like. I'll...Do anything you please and I won't complain at all, you will have my humble servitude once again...If you please spare the young master here." Twigleg pleaded loudly to the golden dragon in front of him, he was almost ready to fall down to his boney knees and start begging.

"Twig-" Ben started to protest, but was cut off when Nettlebrand laughed loudly, his laugh echoing loudly around the now silent cave, it was so loud that it caused the pebbles on the ground to rattle on the ground.

"You seem to really care for this pathetic thing. You know what? I'll do it. I'll spare him." Nettlebrand laughed, his voice still booming around them. Twigleg didn't question the beasts sudden generosity, instead the homunculus turned to Ben, about to help the human boy up to is feet. However, when he felt Nettlebrand's hot breath on the back of his neck, Twigleg's blood ran ice cold with fear.

"I wanted a new armor cleaner anyway." Was the last thing Twigleg heard the monster say before he was engulfed in darkness.

Swallowing Twigleg down, Nettlebrand looked down at Ben, the human now looking up at him, he looked so meek and pitiful it was almost humorous to the golden monster.

Ben slowly sat up, holding his injured arm close to him, his facial expression was a mixture between pain and sadness. Nettlebrand could only chuckle darkly at the human,

"Oh yes, you're small enough to do the job. You're going to shine my golden scales, file down my nails, polish my teeth, get the woodlice out from underneath my scales...I hope you're remembering all of this...Dragon Rider..."


	2. Epilogue

The professor found himself pacing anxiously up and down the entrance to the monastery, biting down on his already worn down thumbnail. It's been so long, where are they? It's been three days now and nothing. He was leaving tomorrow with his family and he'd like some comfort of knowing if they were alive or not. Truthfully, he found himself growing attached to Benjamin and he hoped, along with the rest of his family, that the young lad would come and stay with and them.

Feeling someone watching him, Barnabas turned to see his wife and Guinevere standing in the door frame, Vita had her hands on Guinevere's shoulders, his daughter looked a bit worried just as Barnabas was.

"Any sign of them?" Vita asked, with a headshake in response, Guinevere looked down and bit her lip.

"C'mon sweet-" Before Vita could finish her sentence, the sound of toy airplane filled their ears, breaking away from her mother, Guinevere ran forward and looked out towards the sky. Looking with his daughter, the professor used his hand to block out the harsh sunlight as he looked for the toy plane. Finally, the two of them found it, the little metal plane making a B-line for the monastery.

Seeing the plane didn't make Barnabas feel any better, in fact, it made him even more anxious over the fact that there was no sign of any dragons or dragon riders. Guinevere started to shake slightly, the closer Lola gotten, the more she noticed how banged up the little plane looked, and the fact that Firedrake was nowhere to be seen didn't help her anxiety.

Finally, the little plane got close enough to land on the ground below them, giving the rat some space to get out of plane, they watched as Lola had to kick the glass in order for the plane to let her out. The poor rat looked so distressed, her whole body shaking, her little whiskers twitching like crazy, still, as she made her way out of the cockpit, she carried out a small velvet baggy attached to a necklace. The professor held his breath when he recognized the baggy as Ben's. The baggy that the boy seemed to always have around his neck.

Slowly, the professor brought his palm out for the upset rat to climb on, she gratefully jumped on his palm, baggy in her mouth.

"They're dead...aren't they?" Guinevere squeaked out, her voice on the verge of breaking. Lola looked down at her paws sadly, a sob left Guinevere's mouth and quickly Vita started to shuffle her daughter away saying words of comfort to her. Once gone, Lola sat down on the professor's hand.

"I..." The professor started, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything, instead he took off his glasses with one hand wiped his misty eyes, not wanting to be seen crying. Doing his best to compose himself, he put his glasses back on and grabbed the baggy with his free hand. "This was Ben's? Yes?" He asked the rat who nodded.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't bring his whole bag back with me..."

"It's alright...It's something to remember him by...He was such a sweet child." Barnabas murmured softly as he stroked the velvet bag. He could feel items inside the bag. Placing Lola on one of the stone statues, he used both hands to open the baggy. Peeking inside it, he frowned, there was some silver dust from the basilisk, and a folded piece of paper. Gently he grabbed the folded paper and realized it was actually a photograph. Slowly, he unfolded it and sighed gently once he got a look at what it was a picture of.

Shutting his eyes, he folded it back and placed it within the baggy once more.

"Thank you, really, it's...Something...I should.." He paused for a moment to wipe at his misty eyes once more, "I should go and check on Guinevere." He breathed out and started towards the monastery. However, he heard Lola squeak out something that made him pause in midstep.

"He's still alive...Ben...He told me to give those to you guys...Told me to tell you guys that he died with everyone else."

Turning back around, the professor looked over towards Lola, his gaze an equal mix of confusion and depression.

"...He's still alive? Why would he ask you that? Is it because he's stuck on the mountain? We could get help for tha-"

"Nettlebrand...That monster made Ben his slave...Ate Twigleg right in front of the boy. I saw everything...I went to go back and help Ben while the monster slept, but, there was nothing I could do, the human was too big for my plane and he seemed to understand that, so, he gave me that baggy there...I...You didn't see him...he might as well be dead, he lost all hope..." Lola spoke, her voice weak, the professor just stared off at the mountain above, he then shook his head,

"It would of been better if he was dead...If he was stuck on the mountain it would of been one thing...but, he's a slave to that monster...there is no hope. Not for him..." The professor breathed, the feeling of depression starting to flow though him, turning back around to the monastery, he could see the Dalai lama rushing towards him, obviously going to see what had his daughter so upset. Before he walked to the lama to break the bad news to the monks, he spoke one last time to Lola,

"Truthfully, I would of felt better thinking he was dead, at least then I would of known he was at peace, they don't need to know that...As far as they will know...The dragon rider is dead and Nettlebrand as reigned victorious..."


	3. Final epilogue- the brightest day

Barnabas Greenbloom slowly opened his eyes as he woke up, the fact that his wife as absent meant that it was well past nine AM. Grabbing his glasses off of his nightstand and placing them on his face, he kicked the blankets off and rolled out of bed, sitting at the edge of his bed, he stretched his arms up above his head and moaned out as a couple of his bones popped. Once done with his morning stretch, he leaned down and put on his slippers then got out of bed.

Walking out of his room, Barnabas was greeted with the smell of breakfast cooking. Walking into the dining room he smiled at Guinevere who was eating some toast with a heavy dose of marmalade spread on it.

"Good morning, dear, did you sleep well?" Vita asked her husband as she set down a freshly made plate of eggs and toast down in front of her husband, she then gave her a soft peak on the cheek and sat down to where her food was sitting. Barnabas sat and smiled.

"I slept just fine." He told his wife, then started eat. The three of them ate in silence, Barnabas, being a fast eater, finished first. Pushing his plate a little ways up, he grabbed the newspaper sitting in the middle of the table and started to read it. Guinevere finished her breakfast shortly after, licking a bit of excess marmalade off of her fingers, she smiled at her father.

"Anything interesting today? Fairy sightings? Pegasus sightings?" Guinevere asked with that cute smile of hers.

"Hm...I don't see anything here on pegasi...Oh, this is interesting though, listen to this. _It is said that a rather deformed looking eagle was flying over Manchester today, A lot of eye witness say that the bird seemed to look normal until they saw it's second half, they say that the second half didn't even look like it was from the same species as any bird they've ever seen. _They are talking about a Gryphon right there, my dear." Barnabas smiled to his daughter, Vita gave a smile of her own and added,

"Oh my, a gryphon, now that's exciting I'd love to see that."

"Yes, as would I, winter vacation starts next week, doesn't it Guinevere?" Barnabas asked his daughter who nodded excitedly.

"Yes! Yes it does, are we going to Manchester?" She asked practically clapping her hands together in enthusiasm.

"Hm, it would depend on one thing really," Barnabas mumbled with a slight frown, both Vita and Guinevere went quiet knowing what was on his mind as he frowned at his paper. Guinevere gave a frown of her own as she looked down at her nails, Vita gave out a soft sigh and put pursed her lips just a bit.

"Yeah...but-" Guinevere started but was cut off by her father.

"No buts, Guinevere, you know how the way things are at the moment, we may not be able to, especially with everything that's happened recently." Barnabas told her, gently tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear, she frowned even deeper and then followed up with a heavy sigh,

"It's been two weeks, dad..."

A slight silence fell upon the table, Guinevere looked like she was weighing options in her mind, while Barnabas looked back at his paper, and Vita continued to eat her breakfast. For a few seconds the only sounds to be heard at the table were Vita's chewing, and the sound of the newspaper rustling. Guinevere stood up from her seat and grabbed both hers and father's empty plates. She walked over to the sink and placed both of the plates in the sink.

When she turned back around to the table, she, and the rest of the family heard the sound of the front door opening.

"Oh, he must be back!" Guinevere happily jumped and clapped her hands. She ran to the front door, hearing her father call out to her,

"Be gentle! You know his injury is still sensitive."

She got to the front door, and smiled broadly at the boy at the front door.

"Ben! How was Jack's?" She asked her brother, hugging him gently, being cautious of his shoulder that was resting in a sling.

"Oh it was great! Jack was pretty cautious the whole time though." Ben smiled back, hugging her back the best he could.

"Can you blame him? He's the reason you got that injury in the first place!" Barnabas called out from the kitchen, making the two of them chuckle. Walking into the kitchen, Ben and Guinevere both took their seats, after a couple of seconds Ben spoke up,

"Where's Twigleg?" He asked, and Vita replied,

"He might still be sleeping...it's past ten though..."

"I'll go get him!" Ben happily jumped up from his chair and made it to his room, as he did that, Barnabas took a sip of his coffee, watching his boy happily go to his room.

Earlier today, Barnabas Greenbloom lied to his wife, telling her that he slept good. That was pretty far from the truth, the dream he had was far from pleasant, dreaming that his son was a slave and that everything of Ben's was in complete desolation, but when he woke, he knew that it was a dream, and of course, it being a dream, he knew that his son would still be there, smiling as bright as ever.

Watching Ben come back to the dinning room, a sleepy looking Twigleg resting in the palm of his good hand, Barnabas could only beam brightly at the duo.

Because, even the most vivid dreams, were still only just dreams, the evidence of that was right in front of him, wearing a sling with his blue eyes still shining as bright as ever.


End file.
